So Big

"It has the completeness, and finality, that grips and exalts and convinces. . . . So Big is a masterpiece." — Literary Review
"A thoughtful book, clean and strong, dramatic at times, interesting always, clear-sighted, sympathetic, a novel to read and to remember." — New York Times
"Recommended reading for our times." — Washington Post
In this Pulitzer Prize–winning novel, Edna Ferber recounts the transformation of a gambler's daughter into a spirited teacher, hardworking farmer's wife, and devoted mother. Throughout her struggles to maintain her home and dignity, So Big's heroine prevails thanks to her resilience and her well-developed sense of aesthetics. Ferber faithfully captures middle-class life in the Midwest during the 1920s and '30s. Her observations of class struggles and gender inequality on the Illinois prairie are complemented by her lyrical explorations of timeless values: finding beauty in nature, remaining optimistic, and being true to yourself.

American novelist and short story writer Edna Ferber (1885–1968) grew up in Michigan and Wisconsin, and her fiction faithfully recaptures middle-class life in the American Midwest during the 1920s and 30s. In addition to her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel So Big, she wrote Showboat, Giant, and Saratoga Trunk, all of which were adapted for the screen. Ferber associated with the literary luminaries of the Algonquin Round Table, and she collaborated with George S. Kaufmann on the plays Dinner at Eight and Stage Door.